The English referee Howard Webb has no regrets over his handling of Sunday's "extremely challenging" World Cup final between Spain and Holland.

The Yorkshireman arrived home today from South Africa with his assistants, Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey, to a barrage of media interest in their performance in the final at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Webb has come in for criticism from both the Dutch and Spanish camps after he handed out 14 yellow cards and sent off Holland's Everton defender John Heitinga during Spain's fractious 1-0 win.

"Whatever the match, you always hope that the officials won't need to be heavily involved. However, we had to raise our profile in order to keep control," Webb said in a statement released through the Premier League this evening.

"We don't feel that we had much choice except to manage the game in the way we did. We came away feeling satisfied that we'd done a tough job in difficult circumstances to the best of our abilities.

"It was an extremely challenging match to handle, but it would have been so for any referee. It is one of the toughest games we will ever be involved in and we feel that we worked hard to keep the focus on the football as much as possible.

"Mike and Darren made some terrific calls and I thought the decisions made by my team throughout the tournament were excellent. It's because of the quality of the teamwork that we were appointed to the final. We leave the tournament pleased with how we performed, honoured to be given the final and privileged to have met so many wonderful people in South Africa.

"We're all looking forward to a little bit of a rest and then coming back fresh for the new Barclays Premier League season."

The Dutch players have been widely criticised for their behaviour during the final, during which Bert van Marwijk's side committed a rash of heavy-handed challenges.

Holland were fortunate not to lose the midfielder Nigel de Jong to a straight red card in the first half for a high challenge on Xabi Alonso. But, despite Webb's leniency on that occasion, his performance nevertheless incensed the Dutch, and he was confronted by several players after the final whistle.

"From early on in the match we had to make decisions that were clear yellow cards," Webb continued.

"We tried to apply some commonsense officiating given the magnitude of the occasion for both sides – advising players early on for some of their tackling, sending players away when they were surrounding the officials, and speaking to their senior colleagues to try to calm them down."

Despite the furore that has followed Sunday's final, Webb insists he has come away from South Africa harbouring "amazing memories".

"It was a marvellous honour to have been selected for the tournament and we had a wonderful six weeks in South Africa," he said.

"The people made us feel really welcome and we've hugely enjoyed the experience of being involved in such an incredible and unique event. We left the 2010 World Cup with amazing memories.

"We have been overwhelmed by the support of the public, the media, friends, colleagues, players and managers before and after the final.

"It was a massive honour and a privilege to take charge of the World Cup final. It is something every referee dreams of and to fulfil that dream was a remarkable feeling."